U.S. U-17 WNT vs. Canada: Post-Match Quotes - Nov. 4, 2013

U.S. U-17 WNT Head Coach B.J. SnowOn the match:
“We had to be really well organized. We knew that Canada was going to try to move the ball around, their team shape was very good, and we had to execute the plan both offensively and defensively to give ourselves a chance to win. I was really proud of the girls taking the plan and executing. There are definitely a lot of things we can take from game that we still really need to work on.”

On learning and looking forward:
“Every game is a snapshot. One of our goals to win the group and to be at the top of the group is a tremendous accomplishment for this group and hopefully it gives us momentum heading into the Mexico game on Thursday."

On continuing to improve:
“Part of this is a process. We sat down as a group yesterday and talked about what we learned in the first week. Getting the nerves out, and not making this event bigger than it is because it’s a game they’ve played since they were little kids. Once they are able to relax, you are able to see a performance like you saw tonight. Our job now is to clip the game and see what we need to do get better and starting Thursday we’ll try to improve on this performance.”

On adapting quickly as a team while playing three games in five days:
“You don’t have a lot of time to prepare between these games and each of our opponents has been quite a bit different. So sometimes we have to adjust on the fly. They were able to take the information without being able to really practice it due to the short amount of time and they were able retain it and execute it. That’s a real credit to the girls and something I’m most proud of.”

On the match:
“Anytime you play a team like Canada who has great technical players all over the field, great shape and they are very well coached, to be able to minimize the time they had on the ball and the space they had was certainly one of the goals. Overall, I was proud of the team.There are some things we need to review from this game that we need to improve on.I think the patience and game management was a struggle at times, but overall the aggressive and mentality of the players I was really, really proud of. They set the goal to win the group, came out here today to do it and they did it.”

On the U.S. team never losing in this tournament:
“Certainly we are proud of the history and tradition of our program, but at the same time, it’s a new group of individuals who have never been in the spotlight before. This is the first time they’ve played in this environment so for them it’s new. It’s great that they can hear the stories about the past, but ultimately it’s theirs to go out there and try to win and so far I’ve been proud of their efforts because we’ve had some speed bumps along the way where we’ve learned a lot about ourselves. They are the first ones to be retrospective about it and I’m really proud of them for that.”

On the goals of the team during its two days of rest before the semifinal:
“Recover. Tomorrow is a big recovery day. It’s the coaches’ job to prepare for Thursday and it’s the players’ job to prepare by getting their bodies to get ready to play. So that’s the focus. We’re going to enjoy it tonight and then get back it.”

On facing Mexico for a berth in the U-17 Women’s World Cup:
“We’ve always had a very friendly relationship with Mexico and they’re very well coached. We played them earlier in the year, but they have a completely different team and so do we so at this point we’re just going to prepare ourselves the best we can for how we want to play and certainly put together a game plan that will hopefully benefit our players the most.”

U.S. midfielder MARLEY CANALES
On the match:
“I thought our team did tremendous. We came into this one with a very strong game plan, every single person on the team executed it perfectly and we got the result we wanted.”

On winning the group:
“Winning the group is a great achievement. It was one of our key points, and it’s just one step closer to the ultimate goal, and the only way we could accomplish this was as a team and that’s how we did it.”

On the two goals:
“Both of the goals were complete team goals. Every person did their part. Those players and the rest of the team stepped up tremendously and I’m really proud of my whole team today.”

U.S. defender ELLIE JEAN
On the match:
“Everyone played amazing tonight. Even the subs on the bench were amazing in their talk to the players on the field. Everyone just supported each other during the match, we had great communication on the field and I think we did great tonight as a whole.”

On winning the group:
“We definitely wanted to win the group. That was one of our goals here at qualifying. We had a good plan and we executed it perfectly.”

On the two goals:
“I assisted Zoe’s goal and that was an amazing feeling. Mall’s goal was amazing as well. We worked so hard to get those chances and once we finished them, we were just ecstatic. Our celebrations are great and we have so much enthusiasm.”

On Canada:
“Canada is a great match. They are a great team. They came out hard and we were expecting that. We did not underestimate them at all, but we were able to find gaps and execute and finish.”

U.S. forward ZOE REDEI
On the match:
“Canada is a really good team. They pushed hard and were really organized so they were tough to play against. We were really aggressive and won the ball and were able to play around them and finish our chances to goal.”

On her goal:
“I saw Ellie running down the right side and I saw her cut to the end line, so I sort of just faked the defender and gave her support so she was able to pass me the ball and it was practically an open goal.”

On winning the group:
“One of goals that B.J. gave us was to win the group and we did that. So our next goal is to win the semifinal and eventually win the tournament. I think we are doing a really good job but we are taking each game one step at a time."